Photo by _dChris on Flickr

I notice that some of my social media friends in Vancouver have put together an excellent day tomorrow called WordCamp (a day about WordPress). There are sessions on using WordPress as a CMS, being curious for a living, SEO tips, and the inimitable Dave Olsen presenting “Art and Technology Are Old Pals.”¹

I want to lovingly offer some constructive feedback to both their day and a trend in Camps I’ve noticed.

Are Camps Getting Too Expensive?

Tickets for the Vancouver event are $55 for the day. This surprised me. Generally, Camps in other areas/topics are free or priced low enough for most people to attend. Obviously, nobody’s making a profit here — the organizers are well-respected peeps in the local social media scene who donate a lot of time to various causes.

The Vancouver event includes a couple of coffee breaks, lunch, swag, and a social following the day. I’m not sure how much these cost, but my sense of Camps is that they’re meant to be an alternative to larger commercial conferences where tickets for a similar day might run several hundred dollars.

Are Camps Getting Too Organized?

But more to the point, I would argue that despite the title, the Vancouver event isn’t really a “camp” by the usual definition — self-organized on the day of the event.

Wikipedia’s definition:

“[Camps are organized by] sessions proposed and scheduled each day by attendees, mostly on-site, typically using white boards or paper taped to the wall…. BarCamps are based on simplified variations of Open Space Technology (OST), relying on the self-organizing character of OST.”

Vancouver’s WordPress tomorrow has a fantastic pre-set lineup — but does that not inherently make it not a Camp, by most definitions?

Last year, I trained to be an Open Space facilitator. BarCamps borrow heavily from Open Space. Their success is primarily based on the fact that those who attend drive the curriculum.

Do Camps Need a Mid-Course Correction?

Obviously, there is no official Camp company which protects its trademark. The use of “Camp” in an event name can be used by anyone, regardless of how the event is structured, how much it costs, and so on.

But perhaps events which are priced more than, say $20 or so, and those which have a pre-set agenda, shouldn’t use the “camp” designation?

What do you think?

1. Locals still talk about Dave’s über-inspiring “Fuck Stats. Make Art” presentation at Northern Voice a couple of years ago for which he received a lengthy standing ovation.

I presented my “What It Is: Awesomizing Your Podcast Using Secrets From Radio” workshop this past weekend at Northern Voice, Vancouver’s annual blogging conference. (I’ll be presenting it again on June 20th at Podcasters Across Borders in Ottawa.)

The basics of the presentation focused on what “it” was — you know, that little something, that thing on the end of your tongue, that makes you know if you like a radio piece or personality or if you don’t. We all know if a host has It, but I tried to outline exactly what It was so one could duplicate it. Here is how I defined It:

• It is intimate. You are speaking directly into someone’s ears — even more so when they’re using earbuds… you can whisper to them. Radio listening is almost always done today by one person at a time; families don’t gather around the radio any more. And yet so many podcast hosts talk as if they’re speaking to a room — they use a hyped voice, or they call their audience “everyone.” Remember, you are only speaking to one person. There may be thousands of these one-person audiences, but aim to speak to just one.
• It breathes. One big mistake that many beginning podcasters, radio reporters, or audio editors make is they edit out the um’s and ah’s, and the long reflective breaths that sometimes inteview guests make. Unless they are completely distracting, you should aim to leave breath in. Breath is emotional punctuation. It gives richness to the words being spoken. One long, thoughtful breath taken before answering a tough question can say so much more than just the answer.
• It seeks the Universal Truth. The great radio shows, like This American Life, are always seeking a Universal Truth in their stories. It’s not enough to report the flow of what happened — try to find out why it happened and what your characters learned from it. In short, great stories give us pause for reflection. Great storytellers draw out those moments of reflection and give us the space to reflect.
• It takes time. It’s said that the best portrait photographers throw away the first few rolls of film they’ve shot with the subject. Why? Because in those first minutes, the subject isn’t as relaxed or comfortable with the photographer, so they appear stiff and uneasy. The documentary filmmaker Errol Morris is famous for interviewing people for hours at length, even if he’s only going to use a short clip, because he knows the longer one stays with a person, the more comfortable they’ll feel, the more they’ll tell you, and so on.
• It is everywhere. Always take your digital recorder with you, because amazing audio will happen when you least expect it. Even if you’ve got a podcast coming up but no ideas on what to talk about, just look around, take in your surroundings, examine the patterns you do each day. Content is everywhere if you know how to find it.
• It does not abuse music. Great music under a podcast should sound like the scoring of a film — like harmony to the melody of the words. Avoid recognizable songs because your listeners’ mind will be transported from your narrative directly into whatever memories those lyrics evoke. Avoid songs with words that “comment on” what you just said — for instance, don’t play “Life Is a Highway” just because you finished talking about hitchhiking. It’s predictable and a cliché.
• It is phony. Realize that the best storytelling employs a lot of tools to make the  a podcast or radio story really come alive. It’s okay to add a pause where an interview guest thinks. It’s okay to “act” while reading a script — in fact, it’s very much your job to make that script come alive.

Rob Cottingham, who pens the hilarious Noise to Signal cartoon, was in the audience of my session and did up this great cartoon summary of my points:

Tod Maffin and Malcom Gladwell have been selected as the two keynote speakers at the upcoming F5 Expo in Vancouver. Hear Tod’s story of how he went from being an always-on multi-millionaire dotcom executive to crashing into depression and addiction. A story of hope and recovery, with a lesson to everyone in the tech industry; Tod will outline his five key tools to surviving in the techno-busy lifestyle.

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Of all the social media marketing strategies, email seems to be the easiest, right? After all, you use email every day. Not so fast.

Email marketing is one of the most effective tools, with one of the highest returns on investment, yet so few companies do it right. (Or at all.)

Let Tod Maffin show you the ins and outs of email marketing — from the very basics, right through to advanced techniques like click-weighted A/B testing, and integrating your newsletter directly into your web site.

He’ll show you how to get subscribers the right way, or double the number of followers you already have. This isn’t a high-level 30,000 ft view of email marketing and its place in the world. These are fast and effective tips to make sure every effort you spend in email marketing returns many, many more.

ALL-MORNING SEMINAR
This Wednesday, January 20
UBC Robson Square, Vancouver
LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE!

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Draft Workshop Agenda

Wednesday, January 20, 2009 • 9:30 a.m. • UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver

Part I: The Basics

• Starting your first email newsletter
• Using a provider vs doing it yourself
• How to get subscribers
• How to craft a subject line that your recipients will respond to
• Promoting your newsletter
• The “no-effort newsletter” — merging your newsletter and your blog
• How often should I send?
• About using a purchased mailing list
• Sending in advance, and setting up a regular automated schedule
• Complete screen-by-screen walkthrough of Mailchimp.com
• What to write and how to find material
• Sending coupons for offline (“real world”) redemption
• Giving your newsletter a professional design in two minute
• Personalizing your newsletters (“Dear Tod,” instead of “Dear newsletter subscriber”)

Part II: The Secrets

• 14 tips to increasing your open rate
• Integrating your newsletter directly with your web site without being a programmer
• Boost your open rate using A/B testing (via name, subject line, or date/time)
• Tying newsletter-opens directly to purchases or lead generation
• Staying out of spam folders
• Using Google Analytics to track your newsletter’s success
• Using plug-ins to connect your newsletter to your WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or Movable Type CMS
• Segmenting your newsletter for stronger personalization — send only to specific sub-groups
• Create auto-responders that automatically send content to your subscribers without you lifting a finger
• Keeping it Legal: Staying within the bounds of the CAN-SPAM act
• Affiliate marketing: Earn cash with your newsletter with a single link
• Integrating Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn into your newsletter
• Integrating events registrations and surveys right in the newsletter
• Integrating other services, such as Salesforce, Freshbooks, HighRise, PayPal, and more

Part III: No Question Is a Stupid Question

• Lively Q&A session, where every question is answered and discussed among attendees.

Every attendee will receive a workbook with a summary of content covered, and access to a private web page full of resources, links, and a summary of the workshop content.

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The Complete Assured ROI™ Package

If you want to get full value out of this workshop, make sure you register for the Complete Assured ROI™ package. Only FIVE Complete Assured ROI™ Packages are available.

• Admission to Blazingly Effective Email Newsletters workshop (see details above)
• Unlimited telephone coaching before sending your first campaign
  
• Comprehensive review of first two email newsletter drafts ($300 value)
• Video of workshop (in MP4 format) ($79 value)
• A copy of Assured ROI: Blazingly Effective Email Newsletters e-book ($19 value)
• Certificate for sixty minutes of social media coaching/instruction — use for your business, your personal Facebook page, or whatever! ($150 value)
• Exclusive advance notice of upcoming Tod Maffin seminars — ability to buy before general public
  
• Lifetime discount for any of Tod’s public Assured ROI™ series workshops on social media
• One year membership in forthcoming social media business membership site ($199 value) launching mid-January 2010
• Copy of Understanding the Facebook Generation 16-page e-book ($9.95 value)
  
• Promotion of your newsletter to more than 8,000 people via Tod Maffin’s newsletter, Facebook profile, LinkedIn proffile, and Twitter account (immeasurable value)
  
• One year membership in the Assured ROI™ Braintrust Forums (launching mid-January 2010)
• (That’s $756.95 in bonus value, all included with this package.)

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Have you ever been frustrated by vague seminars that promise you social media results but don’t deliver? Perhaps the presenter focused on the “shiny objects,” told you how you have to “be one with the conversation” without showing you how to do that and make money, generate leads, reduce attrition, or whatever your business goals are?

Wouldn’t you rather spend your time planning a return on your social media investment, than learning how to re-colour a Twitter avatar?

As a former CEO of a publicly traded company, Tod Maffin approaches social media from a business point-of-view. Using his Assured ROI™ methodology, he’ll show you how to ensure that you earn measurable, real, bottom-line results from your social media strategies. No 50,000-foot viewing here. Only simple, understandable, and measurable strategies.

Want to see the whole 90-minute keynote presentation?

You are view­ing a selected por­tion of a longer keynote pre­sen­ta­tion I give called “Tweet Warfare: Protecting Your Brand from Online Attacks.” (Clicking won’t stop the video; it will open a new page up.)

This keynote is for any pub­lic rela­tions or com­mu­ni­ca­tions per­son in an orga­ni­za­tion or asso­ci­a­tion, or really any­one who val­ues their brand on the Internet.

How do you see the whole thing? If you have an event where you’d like me to present the full 90-minute keynote pre­sen­ta­tion, please check my avail­abil­ity and/or con­tact me.

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It’s clear now — the new war for market domination is being fought 140 characters at a time.

Social media futurist Tod Maffin shows your meeting attendees how to join the battle — dominate market space online, access more qualified leads, pinpoint-measure your marketing efforts, and immediately counter negative online attention.

In his new fast-paced, entertaining keynote presentation, Maffin will let your attendees in on the micro-marketing secrets previously used only by “the digerati” on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and corporate blogs. The latest, most measurably-effective branding tools that organizations can use online — demonstrated step-by-step and illustrated for startling effect.

• Watch a portion of this presentation
  in “SWARM Communications: Protecting Your Brand When Good Buzz Goes Bad Online.”

Realizing that warfare defense is as critical as strategy, content includes deploying counter-measures against online attacks of your brand — whether from comment flames, hashtag attacks on your Twitter feed, blog trolls, or more.

In the true Tod Maffin form that’s won him praise from hundreds of meeting planners worldwide, there are no high-level theoretical overviews here, no boring bullet points, and no technical jargon. Your attendees already understand the social media basics these days; this presentation takes them to the next level — past understanding and directly into strategic, measurably effective use.

At the end, each of your attendees will get immediate access to a private online resource — branded with your conference or meeting logo — complete with presentation notes, worksheets, and step-by-step walkthroughs of each strategy demonstrated on stage. This secure online resource is fully accessible via Blackberry, iPhone, and nearly all other mobile devices.

For more information or to book a date, contact Tod now.